Sweet Dreams

I have two sleeping babies right now. I'm sat here dreaming of
triathlons. I fel in love with tandem biking just two years ago. This
year's habit is running--I'll be running my first 10km/6.2mile race
this weekend, and assuming I survive, this will be the perfet bookend
to a really great time living in Fort Worth as we are moving back to
San Antonio at the end of next week.

I have a friend, Jennifer Linford, who is into triathlons and she has
broadened my horizons. She took me swimming a couple of weeks ago for
my first laps in fifteen years. I had a great time and she claims I'm
fast--who knew? Well, I highly doublt I'm that fast, but perhaps I can
hope to get there.

So, I've been mulling this around for a few months and I'm now
prepared to commit it to writing. I'm training for a triathlon! Don't
be holding your breath though because it might take a while,
particularly since I'm thinking I'd really like to do it in Australia
with my sister, Beck.

Caitlin at 6 Months Old

That's right; we've been celebrating our little Caitlin's half
birthday today. Time has flown much faster with two children and I
regret not recording more of her milestones. Here's a couple; she just
learned to sit by herself. I hardly even saw her roll over much in the
past, but Joe went away to San Antonio for two days and now she's
become a pro at both.

Caitlin is so sweet, adorable, and smiley to everyone. That is, until
she gets hungry or tired, and then she becomes baby-zilla. She doesn't
mind letting you know her feelings.

I told Joe recently that I no longer feel invincible. I was quite
nervous as a new parent, and then I felt like I was getting the hang
of it. I was so excited when I could share parenting advice with
friends who were expectant mothers. I knew all about the best baby
products and gadgets and just what to do. Now I have a second child
who is not a carbon copy of the first, and I realized that parenting
is a completely different experience every time. Apparently I'm no
longer an expert.

Having two girls has been fun. They are now interacting more. Miriam
loves her little sister (although she's very jealous that Caitlin gets
to suck on a binky). Here are a few short stories:

Joe had caitlin in a front-pack and was pushing Miriam on the swing.
Every time the girls came close together they broke out laughing.
That's my first memory of them truly playing together. Now Miriam
likes to make baby laugh all the time.

Secondly, we've often called Caitlin "Baby" as though it was her name
and that's usually what Miriam calls her too. However, a couple of
weeks ago we were out walking and Caitlin started crying. Miriam
exclaimed "Oh no! My baby!" Miriam doesn't care for dolls too much,
but when it comes to the real thing, it appears she takes ownership.

Speaking of Miriam and funny exclamations... We took the girls to the
Fort Worth Science and History Museum. Joe took Miriam into a 4D
theatre to see a dinosaur show while i waited with Caitlin outside.
Joe reported that at the beginning of the show there was an almighty
boom, like a thunder clap which sent Miriam clinging to his side. Then
a moment elapsed and she piped up in her spunky little voice "What was
that!?". Apparently she raised some laughter in the theatre.

First & Last

First: Miriam said her first prayer last night (with help). She's
almost two-and-a-half now. It was very gratifying and cute to hear her
little self-conscious whisper echoing my words. We're off to a good
start.

Last: Joe just finished up the research and data collection portion
for his Ph.D. and can at long last complete his dissertation. Hooray!
As his mentor, Dr. Cunningham said today, "There's light at the end of
the tunnel, and it's not a train". Well thank goodness for that. I'm
very proud of Joe. Looks like graduation is finally eminent. Then just
two years more and he'll be a double doc (MDPh.D.).

Also, this Saturday I'll be running my first 5k race! I'm excited and
nervous. I'll be running it with a guide, my neighbor, Sharlyn. This
will be a completely new experience for me. I haven't raced since
elementary school.

!!

Today I had to confuscate skewers and matches from my
two-year-old--The new hiding place should keep her at bay for at least
a while.

Two and Two Together

I now have a two-year-old and a two-month-old. Phew—I made it past the
toughest stage now that my newborn is not quite so newborn anymore.

Here's the bad news for anyone who hasn't had a newborn—For the first
few weeks she was nocturnal; She would cry until 1am and then wake up
every two hours thereafter and would finally conk out when the alarm
clock went off at 6am. For a couple of nights she even screamed until
2am, by which time I fell asleep sitting up on the couch with her.
Then she woke again at 4am and before she was finished feeding, Miriam
was up and ready to play at 4:30am on account of the change from
daylight savings and having a cold that gave her fitful sleep.
Needless to say, those several days in a row were a bit of a misery.
I'm pleased to now say that Caitlin goes to bed at around 11pm and
wakes at 6am with just one 45 minute or less dinner/diaper break at
around 3am. There's hope in the world! I will mention though, that the
night before last, I woke up in the middle of the night to find myself
sitting cross-legged in the middle of the livingroom floor with a baby
sound asleep on my lap. I have no idea what I was doing there, how I
was asleep at all in that position, and there's no telling how long I
had been there. *Cue the strange music* Weird. I've never been known
to sleep walk.

I'm glad to generally be getting more sleep now and I'm beginning to
settle into motherhood 2.0. The latest news is:

*Miriam can now count to twelve. She busted out with it one day after
having previously counted only to three.
*Miriam was overheard counting out ten bottle caps in Spanish over
Thanksgiving break.
*Miriam is a mad fanatic of the TV show Dora the Explorer (which
accounts for the above statement)
*Miriam has always been affectionate in giving hugs, but now that
Caitlin is here, she suddenly started giving kisses.
[You've already heard a lot about Caitlin, so here's just one more]
*Caitlin weighed in at 11.0 pounds today at her doctor visit and is
60th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.

Will update again soon.

Family History Snippets

When Mum came to visit after Caitlin was born, some snippets of her
history came up in conversation such as:

*When Mum and Dad were married in the church (as was the law of the
time before being sealed in the Aukland, New Zealand temple), Mum
walked down the aisle to the organ accompaniment of God of Our Fathers
Whose Almighty Hand. She chose this piece because she thought it
sounded good on a pipe organ on account of the fanfare.
*When she was seven years old and was living in Woolongong, New South
Wales. The boy she sat next to in school asked her which church she
belonged to; she said she didn't really belong to any but she knew her
mother was a Latter-day Saint and "I'd never heard of that" , but
"since my friend was Scottish and was a Presbyterian, then I presumed
that my dad must be that also since he was Scottish, so I started to
go to Presbyterian Sunday-school." which she did up until she joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when she was thirteen.
*Mum's mother, Edna Flick, was baptized when she was eight years old
by Marion G. Romney in Cockle Creek, Newcastle, Australia. It was a
time when the church was extremely small in Australia and her mother,
Clara Livinia Brown Flick, was a widow with five children to raise on
her own since her husband, Edward Albert Flick had died early of
pneumonia. Clara would walk with her children many miles to attend
church. The majority of the members had moved down to Sydney to be at
the center of the church, but Clara could not afford to move. As a
consequence, all of Clara's children married outside of the church. So
it wasn't until my mum, Julie was thirteen that her mother was
desiring to find the church again, and as it happened, the
missionaries knocked on the door. My mum, Julie, was not interested
initially, but was "taken in by the young missionaries" and began
listening to the discussions and learned that it was true. Mum was
baptized December 10, 1961. Her dad and brother never joined, but "Dad
was always supportive and took me to all of my church activities."
*When she was fifteen, Mum helped build the Wollongong, NSW chapel;
She would catch the bus after school and walk up the hill to the
chapel site where she did everything from stacking cement bricks,
mixing cement, creosoting floor joists, rubbing down walls, sticking
down roof shingles etc. She did over 1000 hours (perhaps more than any
of the youth).

Lowly Request

I'm now a mother to a two-year-old and a two-week-old; please pray for me.

I'm very happy and decidedly blessed, but typically tired and
sometimes stressed.